The new cultivar is a product of a chance discovery in a commercial setting by the inventor. In approximately 1992 and 1994, the inventor, James Fleming collected seed of the native species, Illicium floridanum. The collected seed was planted at a commercial nursery in Newberry, Fla., and seedlings observed for interesting horticultural variations.
During the late 1990s the inventor noticed a seedling with an attractive plant shape and different leaf form. The seedling was then selected and propagated by semi-hardwood cuttings at the commercial nursery in Newberry, Fla. The initial propagation showed the plant to be stable and additional generations were propagated, also by semi-hardwood cuttings. Multiple generations have been reproduced since approximately 2000, and have shown that the unique features of this cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type.